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Sunday, November 4, 2012

The Present World A Stock Taking

The Present World A Stock Taking

The most prominent characteristic which
distinguishes modern age from that of other periods of history is its
unparalleled achievements in the domain of knowledge, science and
technology. Learning has undergone all round development. There are
innumerable branches of knowledge developing by leaps and bounds. The means
and materials of acquiring knowledge is available almost everywhere. A large
number of centres of learning have grown up throughout the world.
Universities, libraries, educational institutions, publishing houses,
presses and many other institutions are constantly institutions far exceeds
the number of students in days gone by. It is said that the number of
institutions taking part in spreading learning directly or indirectly comes
up to 40 lacs. In other words there is one such institution on every
thousand persons. It is also estimated that about half a million words are
printed every second. Learning and knowledge are being developed in all
spheres---physical, biological and psychological. In every field the
caravans of leaning are on the march. Atoms are being split up. Journey to
Moon is being carried on. The oceans are being explored. Efforts are being
made to know the secrets and mysteries of nature. The development of
knowledge has actually reached a new high. This is why Julian Huxly has
characterized the unprecedented upheaval in knowledge as knowledge
explosion”.

2. Energy and Power: There is a well
known saying “knowledge is power”. This means knowledge presupposes power.
Knowledge without power and power without knowledge are unthinkable. They
are the two faces of the same coin. The existence of knowledge has already
been established. Let us see if it is confirmed by the presence of power in
our hands. The truth is established in this respect as well, for we have
power at our disposal in proportion to our knowledge. Like knowledge our
power too has grown both in quantity and quality. It is highly difficult to
make an estimate of it and it is almost impossible to estimate its
possibilities. Let us examine a few examples. We are all familiar with coal,
vapour, mechanical power, electricity, magnetism, light, sound, etc. All of
them are so big that to call them giant forces is to ridicule them. We daily
experience some of their performances. Coal and vapour drive carriages and
factories. Magnetism, sound, light, petrol and mechanical power do
innumerable delicate works both big and small with ease and comfort.
Electricity serves us like the most obedient servant by driving train and
fans, drawing water from under the ground, irrigating lands and doing a
countless other works known to everybody. But all these powers have been
eclipsed by one energy unlocked very recently. This known as “atomic
energy”. Our knowledge of this energy can be harnessed for multipurpose
operation and that the work will be done with terrific speed and great
precision. Deserts can be transformed into green fields. Incredible increase
can be exercised in crop production. Deadly and dangerous diseases can be
cured. Change in climates can be brought about. Courses of rivers can be
controlled. Hostile forests, poisonous insects and animals and brutes can be
easily wiped out of existence. Time and distance can be reduced to such
proportions that we can establish contact with the rest of the world in
minutes and visit important places of the globe in hours. In short atomic
energy can be successfully used to meet almost all the requirements of food,
clothing, medical aid, housing and other needs and completely eradicate
poverty and want. The advent of this energy envisages a world rolling in
wealth and plenty. On the other hand if this energy is used for destructive
purposes the entire world can be blown up without much difficulty.

3. Wealth: We have seen above that the
present world possesses knowledge and power beyond all doubts. Let us test
our observation by surveying the enormity of wealth in our possession. The
one inevitable result of the combination of knowledge and power is the
production and increase of wealth. If the world has knowledge and power it
must have wealth as well in the same proportion. The stocktaking of the
wealth of the present world is however beset with numerous difficulties.

The first difficulty consists in finding out the starting point for such a survey.

T The second difficulty lies in the poser, ‘Is it possible to make the survey at all? What things are to bbe taken up and what things are to be left out?’

TThe third difficulty is the absence of a standard measure or criterion. What quality and quantity will bbe taken as plentiful?

In the midst of these difficulties it is
almost impossible to go on with the work. For this re4ason it is wise to
confine our survey to the necessaries of life only. Necessaries comprise
only those things without which a man cannot keep himself alive. They are
only four---food, clothing, housing and medical aid.

Food: Food is the primary need of
every living being. Man cannot live without it. The present world
population is said to be 370crores. This population will require
67,52,50,000 metric tones of food material annually at the rate of half
kilogram per head day. The Statesman yearbook 1962-63 gives the following
figures of world production of only 8 cereals.

1. Wheat
236,700,000 metric tonnes

2. Barley
85,700,000 metric tonnes

3. Rhye
35,480,000 metric tonnes

4. Oats
51,400,000 metric tonnes

5. Maize
214,000,000 metric tonnes

6. Rice
242,200,000 metric tonnes

7. Bajra
68,300,000 metric tonnes

8. Potatoes
280,600,000 metric tonnes

Total:
1,214,380,000 metric tonnes

This shows that the world production of only
eight edibles goes up to more than 121 crore tones. This list does not
include pulses, oilseeds, green and dry fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs,
fish, milk and a lot of other things used as eatables in different lands and
by different peoples. All these taken together must exceed double the
quantity of the above edibles. According to a conservative estimate the
production of foodstuffs is well over four time the requirements of the
total population of the globe and if a planned programme of all the arable
land is drawn up the area of cultivable land and its production will go up
still higher.

In order to have a correct estimate of the
situation the expected revolutionary change in the domain of food production
must also be kept in view. It is said that man is about to take a big leap
by which he will no longer have to depend on plants and animals for his food
stuffs. He will get food from sea water and air. He will have refined,
healthy, tasteful and nutritious food quite easily and at a very low cost.
Man will totally forget the present food tastes and standards. His food
reserves will be infinitely increased.

2. Clothing: Cloth occupies the second
position in the necessaries of life. Exact figures of cloth production in
the world are not available. Nevertheless an estimate can be worked out very
easily. In 1965 Indian Cotton Mills numbering 526 only produced 7745 million
meters of cloth. The production by handlooms, power looms and other sources
of manufacture is not included in the figure. The total production from all
sources may amount to well over 9000 million meters per year. It is
estimated that the world production may well exceed the Indian production at
least by hundredfold. The world production of cloth therefore may vary
between 900 to 1000 billion meters. Allowing 15 meters of cloth for every
individual on an average the total requirements of cloth goes up to 55.5
billion meters per year. This makes it quite clear that our production far
exceeds our actual requirement. It has been rightly claimed that the present
production of cloth is so abundant that after meeting the world requirements
in full the surplus stock may go round the Equator more than once.

The number and speed of cloth mills are
increasing by leaps and bounds. Cotton and numerous other fibers are being
used for manufacturing clothes. Several nonfibrous materials are being also
used for the purpose. Raiment’s made out of terylene; nylon and rayon are
now very common. Experiments are being carried on to use glass and aluminum
for the manufacture of clothes. It is also expected the world is about to
take a big leap in this direction and the world production may exceed the
present one by manifold.

3. Housing: It is long, very since man
has come out of caves and rocky dwellings. Now-a-days he lives in big towns
and villages, housed in buildings both big and small. Architecture has taken
startling strides. Modern buildings have attained high degree of perfection
in all respects, in beauty and workmanship, in comfort and luxuries, in
height and space; in decency and neatness. Sky high buildings rising well
over hundred stroyes are no wonders in modern times. There are innumerable
buildings each accommodating a population of a small town. It is said about
the famous Empire Buildings of New York that it houses 25 thousand people in
it. To crown it all, air conditioned buildings are increasing fast. The
process of air conditioning has worked wonders to render relief and comfort
and to do away with the rigours of climate. Again the pleasing decency, the
cosy softness and the ornamental finish of modern furniture defy all
description. It is said that man has reached the threshold of plastic age.
In this age metal and other building materials for the construction of
houses and furniture will cease to be use. Everything will be made from
plastic. Plastic buildings are expected to be built with greater speed and
with much less cost.

4. Medical Aid: Medical aid occupies
the fourth place in the necessaries of life. The position of the present
world in this respect is quite different from that of the bygone ages.
Facilities for medical aid are found in abundance in modern times. There are
thousands and thousands of government, semi government and private clinics
spread all over the world. Innumerable institutions for medical education,
laboratories for experiments research centers for investigation and enquiry
and working round the clock to save men from diseases and ailments.
Specialization in different branches of medical science is moving apace.
Development in surgery had reached a new high. Even heart, brain and lungs
are operated upon with amazing success. New ones are being planted in place
of old ones. Plastic surgery however astounding it may appear, is no longer
an outstanding fear of medical science. Hectic search for DNA and Enzyme is
on to have control over death. Very recently man has succeeded in finding
out the particular enzyme which can dispense with old age and make youth a
permanent things Apparatuses which can help treat various diseases have been
prepared. It is said that in near future a number of diseases will be
completely wiped out of existence.

The Robot age: Very recently man has
been blessed with a new gift. It is said that our world is about to enter
the robot age. Robot is a mechanical device. It is a man made of iron. Robot
will do everything that a man servant does these days—marketing, cooking,
washing, upkeep of the house and carrying out the orders of its master. It
will even read out books to you when you will so want it to do. Robot is
therefore expected to free man from the tyrannies and burdens of labour and
toil. It is said that robot is now a reality. It has come out of the
experimental stage.

The above survey is brief but revealing. The
position of the present world is crystal clear. The present world is a world
of plenty having knowledge, power, and wealth in amazing size and enormity.
Man has done much to relieve him self of the pain and distress of life. His
labours have been fully rewarded. The generous Nature is showering its
bounty upon man almost every moment. The whole story conjures up a picture
of the present world before our eyes. There is one very important aspect of
the picture, which can explained well by a hypothetical method. Suppose for
a moment that you are on Mars surrounded by the Martian people. The Martian
people will be simply stunned to hear about the plastic and robot ages. They
are bound to come to the conclusion that the Earth must be nothing short of
a paradise. The people there must be the most fortunate souls and must be
living in perfect peace and happiness. They must have no problems at all.
Each and every evil must have been wiped out. The life there must be all
mirth and joy free from all miseries and sufferings, sorrows and pain.

Now let us come down to the Earth and face the
realities. The appalling poverty, the gruesome miseries and sufferings and
the smarting want and hunger are most pronounced in human life. Today man
sits on huge piles of food stuffs but he is a victim of acute hunger. He
stands on Himalayan stocks of cloth, but he is naked. He is surrounded by
sky-high houses and is abundantly rich in means of medical aid but is
practically quite deprived of them. The situation has become elusive and
defies explanation. It is an amazing example of scarcity in the land of
plenty. The world has reached a point where everything aggravates and
nothing relieves. This is the climax of the crisis man is faced with.

But why is it so? Has man gone mad? Does he
lack in knowledge, power or wealth? We have already discussed it. He lacks
none of these. He is not mad. On the contrary he is intelligent, scholarly,
learned and wise. But nothing is coming to his rescue. Everything appears to
be frowning at him. The defect lies in our modern civilization also known as
Western civilization. This civilization with all its apparent glamour and
outward attraction is solely responsible for the diabolical change in man’s
out look reducing him to the position of brutes and monsters. This remark
reads uncharitable. To ascertain the truth it is necessary to examine some
of the basic foundations of our modern civilization.